


Elfie

by Hashtagmavin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Christmas Story, M/M, Teenager AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:30:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashtagmavin/pseuds/Hashtagmavin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Teenager AU) Michael is stuck at his boring part time job, and Gavin is stuck with the after effects of a drunken bet with his friends. It isn’t very often that a grocery store cashier gets the phone number of one of Santa’s little helpers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elfie

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Hashtagmavin.tumblr.com

It wasn’t that Michael hated Christmas.

He loved the holiday, it was fun. Hearing children’s laughter as they play in snow, the sound of bells ringing cheerfully, the smell of hot chocolate filling the air, a man dressed as Santa Claus yelling out “ _Ho! Ho! Ho!_ ” with a warm hand resting on his large tummy. It was all pleasant and cute.

The thing he couldn’t stand was the sound of Christmas carols. How many hours can those carolers go on singing those exact same songs non-stop? As if he hadn’t heard the songs enough in his life, he’d probably heard each of them over one hundred times today. Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, etc, etc.

Maybe he was just being a grumpy asshole after having to work through it.

The grocery story, in which he works part-time, is attached to the main mall in town. They happen to be having sales in all of the stores to celebrate Christmas being only a week away. So people also have tiny stands set up out there selling tiny trinkets or raising money for their high school winter dances, some old man is dressed as Santa Claus and children are getting pictures with him, and Christmas carolers are dresses as elves as they sing at the top of their lungs.

It was tolerable at first, he didn’t really mind it. But after being stuck here at this same cash register for so many hours, he’s ready to rip his hair out in frustration. He just wants his stupid shift to end so that he can go home and drown in the silence.

Nobody is even in the grocery store anymore, they’re all out enjoying the Christmas carolers and Santa Claus. You’d think his manager would realize this and tell him that it’s alright to go home but no. Of course not.

He has to sit here at this cash register, just in case somebody decides to leave the fun of the mall and enter the boring grocery store. Very unlikely.

“Hello!” a very British voice snaps him out of his thoughts, and he turns forward to see a boy standing there. He has a few boxes of candy canes on the convener belt and an amused smile on his face.

That’s not the thing that makes Michael raise an eyebrow though.

The boy is dressed head to toe like a Christmas elf. He’s wearing a long sleeved white and red striped shirt, a red vest over that, and a red stocking cap that hangs down and rests on his shoulders. There’s also a bright name-tag on the vest that reads “ _Hello! I’m Elfie!_ ” and it’s fairly obvious that it was made by a small child.

“What the hell are you wearing?” Michael asks, beginning to scan his items.

The boy looks down, as though forgetting his ridiculous getup and then rolls his eyes in realization. “It’s a long story.”

Sometimes being a grocery store cashier was both a blessing and a curse. You got to listen to interesting stories from people with lots of items to scan, but this wasn’t always as amusing as he assumes this guy’s story is going to be. 

“I’ve got time,” he mutters, “You got somewhere to be?”

“Sort of. It all ties in with the reason why I’m wearing this stupid costume. My friend Burnie and I lost a bet with my housemate Geoff.”

“What kind of bet could possibly end with you wearing something like that?”

“I don’t know, I was too drunk to remember by the time morning came, but Geoff had it in writing so it wasn’t like we could really get out of it. So we don’t really have much of a choice but to grin and bear it. Besides, it’s kind of a cute costume, huh?” he gestures to his outfit with a grin.

“You look like a moron.”

“Gee thanks,” he rolls his eyes, “I thought employees were supposed to be kind to their customers.”

Michael smirks, “Are you here on official Santa Claus business,  _Elfie_?”

“No!” he glares playfully, and looks down at Michael’s own name-tag, “As a matter of fact, I’m not,  _Michael_.”

“Then what?”

He sighs, realizing that he’s going to have to tell the whole story. “Geoff’s wife and daughter love to come here to this thing and sing Christmas carols every year, and because he loves them so much, he ends up doing it too. Burnie and I drunkenly made a bet with him which involved us dressing up like elves and joining them if we lost. But I’m a horrible singer, and trust me when I say that everybody’s ears would be bleeding if I was a part of the caroling.”

“So that Burnie guy has to sing and you don’t?”

“Sort of, I’m stuck handing out candy canes to the people that pass by,” he explains, “Which explains why I’m here buying them in the first place. We’ve ran out.”

“That’s pretty fucking funny, dude,” he snickers and begins bagging the boxes.

“Take your time!” the guy instructs, and watches the front of the store almost nervously, “The longer I’m in here, the less amount of time I have to be out there. Looking foolish in front of one cute boy is better than looking foolish in front of the entire town.”

“Cute boy, huh?” Michael smirks, and when the boy blushes it’s obvious that he didn’t intend for him to hear that part.

“Yeah, I guess so.” he shrugs, trying to play it off as casually as possible, “For a cashier at a supermarket, that is.”

Michael chuckles, “You don’t have much room to talk, elf boy.”

“Hey!” he protests with a grin, “I clean up pretty good. Can you really expect anybody to look nice when they’re wearing an outfit designed for building toys?”

Michael lets out a laugh, enjoying the boys company a lot more than he really should. It’s probably against some kind of store policy to flirt with customers but what’s the harm? He’s the only check-out open and there’s nobody else around.

“So, what are you doing  _after_ you’re done handing out candy canes?”

Gavin puts on an exaggerated shocked face, “Why, going back to the North Pole with Santa Claus, of course! Don’t you know that it’s only a week until Christmas, Michael?”

He laughs along with the boy, their childish teenager side showing through.

“I cannot imagine ever letting myself get put into a situation where I’d have to wear something like that.” Michael points out, still scoffing at the outfit.

“You haven’t even seen the best part, Michael!” the boy exclaims, and lifts up one of his legs so that his feet are visible, “Look at the shoes!”

They’re bright red elf shoes, with the curled up toes and little bells on the end. They make a sharp jingling noise when he moves them and it only serves to make Michael laugh harder.

Gavin huffs playfully and crosses his arms, “You’re just jealous of my amazing fashion sense.”

“That is goddamn hilarious,” he grins, “Have they taken any pictures of you yet?”

He lets out an annoyed sigh, “Yeah, and then they said that they would put them on Facebook if I tried to back out.”

“You poor thing,” he rolls his eyes, “Won’t you get in trouble for hiding out here this long?”

“Nah,” he shrugs it off, “What’s the worst they could do? Put me on the naughty list?”

“Which would be a shame, because you’re already number one on the dumbass list.”

“That was a very mean and very bad joke, Michael,” he snickers.

“I don’t have to please you. Your boss is the one that gives out all the presents.”

“Yeah, but I  _make_  them! I could completely trash you and your family gifts,” he states proudly, pointing a finger at Michael’s face as though to exaggerate his point.

“You’re not a very good elf, are you? First no singing, then trying to skip out on your candy cane job, now threatening to take away an innocent family’s Christmas?”

He doesn’t even bother trying to deny the last two, “I already told you that I can’t sing!”

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear,” Michael recites and Gavin makes a face.

“Are you really going to quote a Will Ferrell Christmas movie at me?”

Michael grins and hands him his bag of candy canes, “Yes.”

He’s about to respond but a loud voice rings through the store, “ _Gavin_!”

They both look over to see a man wearing a different elf costume. As if such a thing was possible, it looks even more stupid than the boy’s (who’s real name must be Gavin.) He has on a tall red stocking cap, much like Gavin’s but it sticks up straight from his head and has a large green pom pom on the end. He’s wearing a green shirt with bright red sleeves, three red buttons going down the middle, and a white collar. He also looks very annoyed.

“Oh, bollocks,” Gavin mutters under his breath.

“We sent you to get more candy canes like ten minutes ago!” the man yells from the entrance to the store that leads to the main shopping mall.

“Sorry, Burnie! I got distracted!”

“Well stop flirting with cashiers and get your ass out here! If I’m stuck doing this bullshit then you are too!”

He lets out an annoyed sigh, “I’ve got to go, Michael. Santa and his head-elf are not pleased with me.”

“Go do what you gotta do man,” he snickers, “Don’t wanna piss off old Saint Nick only a week before the big day.”

Gavin gives him a mock salute before running to Burnie with his bag of candy canes. Michael watches with amusement as they walk out of the store and back to the consequences of a lost bet.

Michael busts out laughing when he hears Burnie mutter “You really think you’re going to get laid wearing  _that_? Go hand out candy canes, you moron,” before smacking him upside the head.

*

For the rest of his boring shift, Michael internally scolds himself for forgetting to ask Gavin for his number. Hitting it off with somebody dressed as an elf during his part-time grocery store job isn’t exactly how he would expect to get somebody’s number though, so maybe it’s all for the best.

The guy seemed to have enough on it’s plate as it is. He doesn’t need somebody like Michael biting at his heels and asking for his number like a lost puppy.

He lets out a huge sigh of relief when his shift ends and he can go home. After Gavin nobody else even came into the store so it isn’t like he had to stay there for that extra hour.

He tries his hardest to push through the huge crowd as quickly as he can, cursing the fact that he parked his car on that side of the mall instead of the one outside of the grocery store’s own entrance/exit.

But when Michael looks up to take a brief look at the Christmas carolers he sees Burnie’s face among them, unhappily singing out the words to “Jingle Bells” at the top of his lungs among the others. He’s standing beside another man with a brown beard and numerous colorful tattoo’s running down his arms. Michael’s guessing that that is Geoff, the man that they made the bet with. He’s the only other guy in the crowd of carolers besides Burnie, and he doesn’t look all that pleased to be here either. Gavin also mentioned Geoff’s wife and daughter, who he’s assuming are the two standing in front.

The whole scene actually makes him smile even though they’ve been the cause of his bad mood all day. It’s amusing to see people being reluctantly dragged into spreading holiday cheer like that all because of a happy mother and daughter.

Children run past him and he has to stop himself from yelling out at them to watch where they’re going. They’re just kids that are overly excited at the thought of meeting Santa Claus, so he can’t really blame them.

“Hello there!” a familiar voice pipes up, and he looks over to see that he was about to walk past Gavin. Still there in his stupid “Elfie” costume, with a handful of candy canes.

Michael smirks at him, “I don’t hear any singing coming from you.”

Gavin rolls his eyes but keeps the grin on his face before joining along with the Christmas carolers song. “ _Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh_!” his voice is loud and out of tune, which makes Michael regret telling him to sing. He winces and begins laughing.

“You were right, you should stick to candy canes.”

Gavin continues on singing, just to be an annoyance before handing him a candy cane.

Michael takes it and shakes his head amused before walking off.

It’s only when he’s out of the mall and walking towards his car that he notices that along with the candy cane he was handed a folded up scrap of paper.

Raising an eyebrow he opens it up and grins when he sees what’s written on it in a messy chicken scrawl. The name above it makes him want to laugh and storm back in to the mall just to smack the guy upside the head.

_Elfie (Gavin Free)_

_555-3748_


End file.
